The Suspender Man
by vwizards
Summary: What happens when The Jon runs off when when feels like his brothers don't want him around? Based off the song The Suspender Man by Steam Powered Giraffe, obviously. I hope this is in the right category because I have no idea where to put it.
1. Chapter 1-Wired Wrong

**Uh...yeah I don't know what I'm trying to do with this fic. It's a Steam Powered Giraffe fic, if that wasn't already obvious. Basically I was listening to the song Suspender Man with my friend and she was all like "Hey isn't The Jon a suspender man" and I was like "Yeah so I guess that's where he went" and we were both like "Yoooooooooooo" and that's how I thought of this. And this fanfic is a slight AU I guess? An AU where the song The Suspender Man doesn't exist and where The Jon doesn't run on Crystal Pepsi, just because that would make things a lot more complicated. But other then that I tried to stick to canon as best I could. This first chapter takes place in 2012ish sooooo yeah keep that in mind.**

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**Chapter 1: Wired Wrong**  
The Jon was walking into Walter Manor after a long tour with his brothers and the humans. But he did not smile as he usually did when he returned home. The Jon hung his head as he walked out of the Steam Powered Giraffe tour bus. He felt like crying, but he had already cried so much that day, his oil reserves had probably run dry.

The Jon knew he had messed up. He had almost gotten Michael killed. Michael, his best friend in the world. The incident had happened right after a show that had gone particularly sour. Nothing had really gone wrong, but no one was really into the performance that day, and they were all pretty grouchy. The Jon had decided to try and cheer everyone up by making them laugh. Laughter was the best medicine, right? He had decided to use his super robot strength to juggle all of the instruments at once. And he had managed to do it too, at least for a little while. He managed to juggle a guitar, a drum, a mandolin, an accordion, and a kazookaphone all at once. While he could do it, he looked rather silly. Everyone was laughing and The Spine was shouting his usual "Be careful!" when it happened. The Jon tripped over a rope and broke all of the instruments (save the kazookaphone, which was made of plastic). He knew he was already in big trouble, but it only got worse when he realized that the rope he had tripped on was one of the ropes that was holding up the large lights hanging from the ceiling of the stage. A light that just happened to be right above the one man band himself, Michael Reed. The Spine, with his extremely fast reflexes, managed to push Micheal out of the way before the light was dropped on him. The light did however, fall on The Spine. And despite not being damaged, everyone could tell that The Spine was, literally, steaming with anger. He cracked his jaw and pointed at The Jon. "Bus. Now." The Jon stumbled to his feet and walked slowly to the tour bus, head hung low. As soon as everyone finished packing up, The Spine called The Jon into the back of the bus to give him a good talking to. In all of The Jon's 115 years of life, he had never heard The Spine sound so disappointed in his little brother. The Jon rode out the remaining hours on the bus in an unusual stunned silence, occasionally letting black oily tears fall down his face. No one dared acknowledge him, despite a few pitiful glances.

When the band finally arrived back at Walter Manor, The Jon was the first one off the bus. The Spine and Michael shoved their way past him to unload the gear, Sam followed soon afterward, shaking his head sadly. The Jon remained where he was, seemingly frozen in place. Steve noticed and walked over to the golden bot. He put his hand on The Jon's shoulder. "Don't let it get to you, pal. The Spine and Michael...they're just upset. They're still your family." The Jon nodded slowly in acknowledgement but his glum expression didn't change. Steve looked a little disappointed and walked over to Rabbit. "I'm worried about him." Steve said.

Rabbit looked at his younger brother. "Who Jon? Nah, he'll be upset for a little while, then go back to being his goofy annoying self by tomorrow. T-t-trust me, I've been his brother for over a hundred years, I know how he works."

"You sure? He just spent the entire trip in silence, like he was in some sort of depressing trance. He didn't even ask 'are we there yet' at all!"

Rabbit looked over at his brother. He was still just standing there, just staring at the exterior of the manor. Steve was right, he did look particularly upset today. "All right, I'll talk to him." Rabbit walked over to his brother. "Hey Jon, how ya holdin up?" The Jon looked at his brother, with empty eyes. Rabbit felt a deep pity. "So ya m-m-messed up and The Spine yelled at you, so what? If I had a dollar for ever time that had happened to me, I'd have...a lot of dollars." The Jon nodded "Okay." he said as walked into the manor and up to his room and went straight into stasis. Rabbit watched as his brother left and walked over to The Spine. "Hey," Rabbit nudged him.

"Not now Rabbit. I'm not in the mood."

"What did you say to The Jon? He seems pretty upset..."

"I just told him what anyone would tell someone who broke four instruments and almost killed Michael."

Rabbit scratched the back of his head. "Yeah...but you can be kind of harsh, and it was an accident..."

The Spine gave Rabbit a chilling glare with his bright green photoreceptors.

"What he did was dangerous. Michael could have died!"

"Aw don't get your c-c-circuits in a twist, nothing happened." Rabbit lightly punched The Spines arm. "That's why Pappy put those lighting fast reflexes in ya anyway."

"Pappy didn't give them to me. I got them in my government upgrade in 56'."

The mood suddenly turned a bit awkward. "Oh." Rabbit gave him a worried glance but let it go and walked away.


	2. Chapter 2-Out in the Rain

**Funny thing, I actually wrote most of this story already, so I'll upload the chapters fairly quickly, after a bit of self-editing.  
**

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**Chapter 2: Out In The Rain**

The Jon was pulled out of stasis that night to the sound of thunder. He was scared of thunder. He awoke with a start and let out a small cry. He looked around. The room was pitch black. He crawled out of his bed and scampered down stairs to try and seek some comfort from his brothers.

Usually when The Jon was awoken by thunder, he would run downstairs to where his brothers were waiting. Rabbit would tell him jokes and stories to lift his spirits, and The Spine would pretend to make him some hot chocolate because he couldn't drink real hot chocolate.  
But not this time.

The Jon reached the bottom of the stairs, and looked around. This room was also very dark. He could just barely make out various photographs on the walls. All the eyes staring at him in the dark were beginning to freak out The Jon. Lightning illuminated the room for a split second, followed by a loud crash of thunder, causing The Jon to jump. He walked slowly to the kitchen. His brothers weren't there either.

As The Jon walked down a nearby corridor, he noticed some shadows and the subtle ticks of his brothers' clockwork around the corner. He was about to call out to them when he remembered what he had done earlier that day. They were probably still mad at him. The Jon remained where he stood and contemplated just going back to bed and waiting out the storm, despite his fear.

He peeked around the corner, hoping no one could see the dim blue glow of his photoreceptors. He was surprised to find that not only his older brothers, but Peter Walter the sixth in the room as well.

Rabbit and The Spine sat uncomfortably in their chairs. Another quiet clap of thunder rang in the distance, causing them to look around nervously.  
The Jon was surprised. It had never occurred to him just why his brothers were always downstairs waiting for him in the middle of the night. It had never occurred to him that his brothers were just as scared of thunder as he was.

The Spine straightened his tie and began to speak. "Let's get down to business. We need to discuss what to do about The Jon." Peter and Rabbit nodded. The Jon's eyes widened. He also noticed Rabbit looked very uneasy, more so than The Spine. Like this wasn't a conversation he wanted to have. He cleared his throat. "W-w-well, what can we do? You can't just change how he is! And it was an accident after all..."

The Spine looked down at Rabbit. "His 'accident' nearly got Michael killed. And I'm not just talking about what happened today. Lately he has been quite a handful. He's a danger to himself and everyone around him-"

"No he's not! How can you say that Th' Spine? About your own brother!" Rabbit snapped.

The Spine put his hand on his shoulder. "I care about The Jon just as much as you do, but I'm just trying to think of what's best for him."

The Jon did not like where this conversation was going.

The Spine turned his neon glare to Peter. "So Peter, we were wondering if you could, well, fix him. You know, make sure his behavior is not caused by him being...well, broken."

"Th' Jon doesn't need fixin!" Rabbit shouted.

"Rabbit-"

"What if I did something like that, huh? Would you want to have me fixed too?"

"You know The Jon is different from the two of us, Rabbit. It's as if he just...has a different way of thinking. Which can get him into trouble. So if he's broken, I just want to fix him."

Peter finally spoke. "You know I've tried to fix him. But The Spine is right, The Jon is different from you two. He doesn't run on the same technology. Hell, there is no technology, he runs on a hot dog and a koi fish that should have died long ago. He has a blue matter core like you two, but that's it. He shouldn't be running at all."

The Jon was deeply hurt by Peter's comment. Shouldn't be running at all? What did he mean by that? He was just as alive as Rabbit and The Spine!

The Spine raised an eyebrow, "So what do you suggest we do? We can't just let him continue to have his 'accidents' until he or someone else gets hurt."

"Well you know, we could always just...shut him down. Permanently." Peter said with no feeling in his voice. The Spine raised both eyebrows and Rabbit looked horrified.

The Jon stepped back in shock and covered his mouth. Another loud clap of thunder caused him to fall backwards onto the floor with a large clunk. Peter and the two bots turned around with a start. "Jon?" Rabbit said with shock and horror in his voice. He was not suppose to hear that. Rabbit flung up from his chair and began to walk towards him, to explain the situation, but before he could get anywhere near him, The Jon panicked and ran back upstairs to his room and locked the door behind him.

"Jon!" He heard The Spine and Rabbit's muffled voices calling out to him from behind the door. The Jon ignored them and curled up on the floor and sobbed quietly to himself. After a little while, the voices of his brothers subsided, and The Jon was left alone, with only the sound of rain dripping on the windows. They want to turn me off, The Jon thought, they said I shouldn't even be running. The Jon took a deep breath in a desperate attempt to calm himself. He decided that he wouldn't let them turn him off. He would leave, he would run far away from there.

The Jon quickly stood up and changed his clothes. He put on his favorite red suspenders and top hat and scribbled a little goodbye note in crayon on a scrap of paper. He gathered a few tools, a can of oil, and a roll of duct tape (for repairs) and placed them inside a small bag tied to his back. He filled his boiler to the brim with water before quietly slipped out of his room and down the stairs. He silently looked up at all of the pictures on the walls. They were mostly pictures of the various Walter Manor residents and family friends, as well as a few significant events. The Jon looked at all the pictures of himself and his brothers. Of before and after the Great War, of various concerts, and a fair few from that fateful day when someone decided to give Rabbit a camera for Christmas. They all looked so happy together. But...in almost every picture he was in, The Jon was doing something that he shouldn't be doing. Had his brothers always been that irritated with him? But surely he had done nothing worse then some of the things Rabbit had done! But...Rabbit was smarter then him. And stronger then him. And had a better voice then him. And was better then him. The Jon never noticed any of this before, or else he wouldn't have done anything! The Jon sighed. Too late now, he supposed. He had better get going. As he began to walk away, one photo in the corner of his eye caught his interest. As he looked at the photograph closely he realized that it was of him and Pappy. It was definitely of his early days, perhaps even his first day after his completion. The Jon was standing there, with a goofy smile and Pappy's arm wrapped around his shoulders. The Jon took it off the wall. Pappy never minded his antics. Pappy always loved him just the way he was. He stuffed the photograph into his bag and walked through the back doorway, looking back only once.

It was still raining when he walked out into the garden. He was waterproof, for the most part, but he was still glad he brought that can of oil or his joints would be squeaking all the around the country. His brothers would catch him in an instant. The Jon was about to depart from his home of over a century, when he stopped to walk over to the Walter cemetery. He sighed as he located Peter Walter the first's grave.

"Hey Pappy...how ya doing? Well, I guess not that well, you bein dead and all...but, I'm gonna be leavin for a while. Why? Oh, no reason, it's just..." He dropped to his knees and oil began to stream down his cheeks. "Why'd you build a broken robot Pappy? Why? Why couldn't you have made me like Rabbit an' The Spine? I don't want to be different!" He of course knew the grave couldn't answer him. He sat there for a few minutes more in silence before getting up. He would have to be long gone before morning when the others would realize that he had left. The rain ran down his face and made him shiver. He plucked a feather from his hat and stuck it in the dirt in front of Peter Walter's grave before going on his way, into the night.

As the Walter Manor disappeared from sight, The Jon realized that he was never going back. He had no money, no home, no family, and nowhere to go. He wasn't even human. The Jon knew that this was a very bad idea, but there was no turning back now. If he had been with his brothers, The Jon would have let out a loud cry and panicked before sobbing into his brothers arms. They would then yell at him for staining their coats with oil and reassure him that he was just overreacting and that everything would be just fine and then make fun of his stupid face.  
But The Jon wasn't with his brothers.

After a while of walking, The Jon sat under a tree, shivering and soaking wet. Why had Pappy built him with temperature sensors? The Jon was probably a few miles from Walter Manor by now, and completely lost. There was a loud clap of thunder, and he jumped. The Jon was scared, cold, wet, and lonely. He contemplated what to do next, but couldn't think of anything. He could probably go to Michael's house, except, Michael would no doubt still be mad at him, and probably take him back to Walter Manor. And besides, he wasn't entirely sure he even knew where Michael lived.

The Jon looked at the sky. Whatever he was to do, it would have to wait until tomorrow, as it was probably around 2am, maybe later. The Jon rested his head down on a rock and closed his eyes, trying to slip into stasis until the sun came up and he could think of a plan.

Rabbit awoke the next day fairly early. He didn't get much sleep that night, worrying about The Jon. Rabbit wouldn't let Peter power down The Jon, he just wouldn't. The Steam Man Band had been together for over a century, and there was no way he was letting them get separated now. Sure The Jon wasn't the easiest bot in the world to understand, but Rabbit would promise keep him out of trouble. He'd keep a constant eye on him if he had to. Anything to keep Peter from shutting him down. He got out of his bed and walked over to The Jon's room. He knocked on the door. "H-h-h-hey Jon, listen, I'm not letting them do anything to you, so don't worry." Silence. "Come on buddy, I'm not mad at ya, you don't have to ignore me." Silence again. "Don't tell me you're s-still asleep!" He opened the door and saw The Spine sitting on The Jon's bed, with his head in his hands. His coat was rumpled, and his hat was on the floor beside him.

"Wha-"

"He's gone."

Rabbit's heart dropped. "Wh-what do you mean gone?"

The Spine looked up at his older brother. He looked tired. Perhaps like he had been...crying? No, The Spine didn't cry. No matter how bad things got, The Spine didn't cry. "He overheard us talking about shutting him down and he left some time last night. Damnit, I wasn't actually going to let Peter go through with it!" Rabbit didn't say a word, but instead an odd sounding sputtering erupted from his boiler. The Spine put his head back in his hands and tossed a note at Rabbit. "He left this."

Rabbit picked up the note and read it:

Dear Brothers,  
I overheard you talking to Peter last night about shutting me down because I'm dangerous. I know I make mistakes and I'm clumsy, but I don't mean to be, honest! I also heard about how I shouldn't even be alive in the first place and that I'm "different". So I guess Pappy just messed up when he made me and didn't have the heart to shut me off, huh? Well I decided that I don't want to be shut down, so I'm leaving.  
Don't worry though! Well, that is, if you were worrying in the first place. I am pretty scared of this big scary world full of scary things, but I brought some duct tape so if I get hurt I'll be okay. And I won't hurt anyone! I promise!  
Goodbye,  
The Jon

As The Spine saw Rabbit read the note, he quietly whispered "He's not going to last a week out there."

Rabbit's face twisted in horror as he realized the situation. He ran out of the room yelling "JON!" all throughout the manor, waking up everyone. After The Spine had explained the situation, everyone was just as upset as Rabbit, and began searching the manor and the surrounding areas.

"Look!" Paige called out from outside. She came inside waving a feather above her head. Rabbit ran over to her and took the feather from her hand.

"W-w-where did you find this?

"Over on Peter Walter the first's grave!"

Rabbit looked down at the wet and muddy blue feather that once adorned the side of his beloved brothers hat. Almost at that same moment he noticed an empty space on the wall where the picture of Pappy and The Jon on his completion day used to have been. He touched the empty space on the wall, "He's really not coming back is he..."

Black tears of oil streamed down Rabbit's face as The Spine pulled him into a hug. The Spine rarely hugged his brothers. He wasn't really a "hug" type of person. But right now was different. Right now Rabbit needed a hug.

"Come on, let's go look for him."


	3. Chapter 3-A one-way road to my future

**Chapter 3: A one-way road to my future**

Michael walked into Walter Manor later that day for practice. He knew something was different when he first entered. The Jon did not run down to greet Michael as he usually did. Michael sighed, perhaps he was still upset about yesterday. Michael, being a fairly chill and forgiving person, was already over it. However, knew that The Jon was very upset about almost hurting him, so Michael continued though the manor looking for The Spine and Rabbit.

Michael soon found that no one from the band was home, automaton or otherwise, so he made his way to the kitchen to make himself a sandwich. He wished that one of the Peters had made a robot that made sandwiches. All these robots and not a single one that made sandwiches. What a shame.  
When Michael entered the kitchen, he found Paige dusting. She looked a bit sad.

"Hey," Michael said as he got himself some water from the sink. "Where is everyone? We were suppose to practice today."

Paige looked at Michael sympathetically. "They're all out looking for The Jon. He ran away last night." Michael choked on his water and began coughing. "What? Why? What happened?"

Paige shrugged. "I'm not sure. He couldn't stand having almost have hurt you, and if that wasn't enough he overheard Peter say something about turnng him off."

"What?" Michael said as rage boiled inside of him. "You wanted to turn him off for what happened yesterday? Look at me! I'm fine! It was an accident!"

"Whoa, Mike, calm down! We weren't actually going to go through with it! You know Peter, he was just joking around with the idea, like how The Spine tells him 'oh that was good Jon, you can stay in the band' after he sings a song. The Jon just jumped to conclusions!"

"Yeah but, you know how The Jon is, and imagine if someone just joked about possibly killing you? No wonder he ran away!" Michael took a deep calming breath as he looked out the window. He stared out into the forest. The Jon was out there somewhere, scared probably, alone, having no where to go. The Jon had been his best friend for years. He had always been there to make him smile, whenever he needed it. He had even taught him how to play the guitar when he was younger. Michael searched for things he could have done to prevent this. He should have kept him from running away. He should have gone after him when he ran up to his room after they came home from the show. He should have comforted him when he was crying on the bus. He should have stopped him from juggling those instruments. He shouldn't have been standing under that damn light.

Michael wiped away some tears forming in his eyes with his jacket sleeve. He sighed. The Jon was gone, so he guessed he was just gonna have to find him. "I'll be back" He said to Paige as he grabbed his keys and went out to search for his friend.

The Jon awoke the next morning, under that same tree, no warmer then he was when he went into stasis. Judging by the position of the sun, it was about 8 or 9 am. The Jon didn't get much sleep that night. He sat up. His neck joint was stiff and his clothes were soaked and caked with mud. He wanted to go home.  
This was not the first time The Jon had run away. Every few years, someone would yell at him, and he would run out of Walter Manor, crying. Spend the next few days at a friend's house, or just out in the woods. However, The Jon had always known in the back of his mind that he was going to go back eventually back. But this time was different. The Jon wasn't going back. No matter what happened to him, he couldn't go back and let Peter shut him down.  
As he was oiling his neck joint, a bird flew on the ground next to him. The Jon smiled, at least he could have some company, at least for a bit. He had always had a way with animals.

"Hello!" The Jon called out to the bird. The bird tweeted something back. "Who me?" The Jon's smiled disappeared. "Yeah, I am a long way from home." The bird tweeted some more. "Oh yes! I am a member of Steam Powered Giraffe! Or, ex member, now..."

"Yeah, you could say they kicked me out."

"No, I don't really have a plan, or a family, or anywhere to go...any ideas?"

"No? Well...thanks anyway I guess."

The Jon took a deep sigh. He wished he had brought his guitar when he left, he could use a little music to take his mind off things. But, it wasn't like he could go back.

Just then The Jon stopped. What am I doing? he thought, There's no use in moping around like this! He stood up and puffed out his chest. "I've got a one way-ticket to destiny! A one-way road to my future! A two-way love with-" The Jon stopped singing, "Well, I don't really have a special girl, but that's okay."The Jon gasped, "Wait, that's it! I'll take a train somewhere far away from here and start my life over!" The Jon grapped his little bag and starting running and didn't stop until he entered a nearby town.

When he wandered into town, he remembered that seeing a robot in the street was not exactly "normal" occurance, but thankfully no one did anything other then give him a few odd looks. He began looking for the train station.

Just then, The Jon bumped into a women, causing her to stumble over and drop her purse. "Hey watch it!" She cried. "Oh!" The Jon was stunned from the women's sudden appearance. He bent over and picked up her purse. "Terribly sorry miss! I wasn't looking where I was going!" He handed the purse to her and helped her up.

"Oh it's okay, I suppose, no harm done-" The women looked at The Jon and thought for a moment. "Hey, I know you! You and your friends used to play at Balboa park a few years ago! What happened?"

The Jon was shocked. He had forgotten that most of the San Diego locals knew who he was.

"Oh, uh, we left to play at the San Diego zoo for a while, then started touring."

The women's eyes widened. "Really? Huh, I knew you guys were good...so you're really robots?"

The Jon smirked. "Yep. 100% made of metal."

The women beamed. "Haha awesome! Which one were you again? I always forgot your name. Sorry!"

The Jon was hurt. But that was exactly who he was, right? The weird younger brother of the members of the band that people actually cared about. Just another robot to please the eye and fill space. Easily replaceable.

"The Jon. I'm The Jon." He said, hiding the hurt in his voice. The stranger smiled and did a little curtsey. "Oh thats right! Well, nice to finally meet you personally, The Jon. I'm Erin. And if you don't mind me asking, what happened to you? You're quite a mess. Don't tell me that just because you're a famous singing robot you don't clean yourself up every now and then."

The Jon's smile disappeared. He didnt feel like telling a stranger his entire situation, or explaining why he was covered in mud and oil.

"Well, to tell the truth, I got separated from my brothers yesterday and I spent last night in the forest. I'm horribly lost."

He hated lying, but it seemed to be the only option at the moment.

Erin gasped. "Thats terrible! Do you know where they are?"

The Jon nodded. "I was suppose to take a train to meet them, but I can't seem to find it."

"Oh, you can't find the train station? Why it's just over there! Here, I'll help you out a little." Erin took a small rag out from her purse and wiped some of the mud and oil from his face. When she had finished, she pulled out a small comb and began to brush out his golden hair. The Jon smiled at her. This is nice, he thought, Erin seems like a nice lady, even though she couldn't remember my name.

When she had sufficiently combed out all the knots in his wig, she took his hand and led him to a large building a few blocks away. "Here's the train station. Can you take it from here?"

The Jon was very frightened. He wasn't entirely sure he could take it from there. He gulped.

"Hey," Erin looked at him, "You okay?"

"Well, not really. I've never been apart from my brothers for very long. Except for in the wars...I'm just, a little scared."

Erin gave him a reassuring pat on the arm. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll be fine! You're going to see your brothers really soon!"

"But what if I mess up? I always mess up..."

"Well you just have to keep you head up! And don't worry! You'll be fine?"

"You think so?"

"Of course! Now go on!"

He was about to walk in the train station but got down on one knee and kissed Erin's hand. "Thank you for this Miss Erin! If you ever need anything from Steam Powered Giraffe or the fair city of Biscuit Town, just tell them about this! You'll get a free signed CD! Just ask!"

"Oh! Well, thank you! But I don't want any free things! It's a pleasure to help!"

The Jon smiled as he stood up and hugged her before quickly running off.

"Good luck!" Erin waved as The Jon ran into the train station.

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**What? Erin? As in Erin Burke? No...she's not real. She can't possibly be in this fanfic...nope...not real...(but like whatever I just needed a character to show Jon to the train station and give him a little hope and I thought this would be cute Erin's not gonna be that relevant)**


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